LE CORBUSIER Villa Savoye, Poissy
1929-1931 the ideal villa
History of Contemporary Architecture Prof. Michela Rosso
1976 The villa is added to the French register of historical monuments. After restoration it has been opened to the public Since 2016 is part of the UNESCO World Heritage
After the completion of the restoration project, the villa is now visitable
See http://www.villa-savoye.fr/en/
Villa Savoye: 1929-1931 the villa in the pages of Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret’s Oeuvre complète Savoye villa in the Oeuvre complète (1929) by Le Corbusier APPROACHING THE VILLA
“When entering the property we can see the villa” A progressive discovery, a ceremonial experience culminating into a surprising, unexpected view. A MOCKERY of the ceremonial, quality of the approach to the villa given by the winding path leading to it, is contained in scenes of Jacques Tati’s film Mon Oncle (1958).
The whole film is a humorous critique of architectural modernism made three decades after the completion of Le Corbusier’s iconic modernist work.
The Villa Savoye in Poissy is situated on a smoothly sloping hilltop, in the midst of a field.
The 5 points (pilotis, free plan, free façade, elongated window, roof terrace) are all accomodated within a perfect square.
Pilotis (STILTS) raise the main living floor one storey above the ground so that guests can arrive and depart while protected by the building itself.
The turning radius of an automobile determines the semi-circular outline of the ground floor that contains the reception hall, garages, and the servant’s quarters.
Plans
GROUND floor Main floor Terrace roof UBIQUITY: a box on STILTS can be set up almost everywhere.
Le Corbusier, sketch of Villa Savoye along with proposed suburban multiplication of the type “On all four sides, the façade is a distibutor of light and views. Its function is pure and simple” (Le Corbusier) The house as a suspended box
The image of the Villa Savoye suggests the idea of an absolute, abstract, pure geometric form. It is presented by Le Corbusier as a “hovering box”, similar to a landed spaceship on stilts. Crucial to this representation is the idea of weightlessness.
A weightlessness that is no longer present at the Unité in Marseille (1947-1953) where the fragile pilotis are replaced by compact, bulky posts that bear the entire weight of the body of the building with expressive force: in Marseille the sense of weight is sculpturally and tectonically dramatized. The pilotis’ interior accomodates water pipes. The transformation of the pilotis from Villa Savoye (1929-1931) to the Unité d’Habitation (1947-1953). PILOTIS at the Unité d’habitation in Marseille
Unité d’Habitation, section, pilotis showing canalisation (piping) (Le Corbusier, Oeuvre complète 1946–1952, ed. W. Boesiger [Zurich: Editions Girsberger, 1953]) 1_Pilotis
1 “Previously the house had been buried in the earth and the rooms were often dark and damp. Reinforced concrete gave us the pilotis. The house in the air, far from the soil, with gardens stretching beneath the house as well as on the roof ”. From: Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Oeuvre complète, 1929 Le Corbusier, the pilotis principle: “Paralysed plan” (left) synonim of unhealthiness, inefficiency, waste And “Free plan” synonim of economy, hygiene, circulation (from Le Corbusier, Précisions, 1929)
The pilotis reverse the tripartite structure of the traditional house with its solid masonry base and crowning attic.
Concrete and steel frame buildings allow a free arrangement of floor plans, a principle already demonstrated by Perret’s apartment house at 25bis rue Franklin. In the Maison Domino Le Corbusier claimed that structural support and architecture are independent, the latter is to be supplied by the individual tenant according to his needs.
2_The roof garden
2 “For centuries the traditional saddleback roof had been the normal way of keeping out the winter and its snow, while the interior was heated by stoves. The installation of central heating made the saddleback roof obsolete. It was now possible for the roof to be flat rather than inclined and water drainage occurred via the centre of the building instead of down the outside walls, thus avoiding the danger of freezing in cold climates. Reinforced concrete made the structurally homogeneous roof possible” From: Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Oeuvre complète, 1929
3_The free plan
From: Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Oeuvre complète, 1929 3_The elongated window
From: Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Oeuvre complète, 1929 Le Corbusier, The elongated window and the traditional, tall window. 5_The free façade
From: Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Oeuvre complète, 1929
Ground floor The ground floor is reserved for circulation, it is for the cars entering and leaving beneath the suspended box, and the radius of the lobby’s semicircular plan is determined by the minimum space required by a turning limousine or cabriolet. MACHINE-AGE SYMBOLISM
The ramp is much more than a mere connecting device. Positioned along one of the two the central axis of the plan, it forms the very spine of the house, the pivotal point around which the vertical space of the project is organized. Main living floor The rooms are arranged in an L- shape along two of the four sides of the plan. About one-third of the surface is occupied by an open terrace enclosed by the walls of the house. A two stage ramp leads from the hall to the living area and from this one to the solarium
TWO CONNECTING DEVICES: THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE & THE RAMP
The ramp & the architectural walk
Access to the first floor apartment is either via the ramp or the spiral staircase, both of which start out from the ground floor entrance hall.
These two means of ascent produce two totally different sensations of movement. The former is open, gradual and leisurely, supplying successive views of the dwelling’s interior and exterior terrace and roof, the latter is closed and rapid. The ramp, the architectural walk, the industrial sublime The ramp assigns a simple walk on the roof terrace the aura of a ceremonial ascent “It is impossible to comprehend the Villa Savoye by a view from a single point; quite literally it is a construction in space-time (Siegfried Giedion, Space, time and architecture, 1941)
“It is by moving about that one can see the orders of architecture developing” (Le Corbusier)
The ramp also celebrates the industrial SUBLIME. It is symbolical of motorized traffic with its roadways in the form of bridges and ramps (see the icons of this INDUSTRIAL SUBLIME exalted by Le Corbusier, e.g. the test track of Lingotto published in “L’Esprit Nouveau”) The ramp, the architectural walk
“We climb up the ramp from the garden to the topmost level, reaching the roof of the house where the solarium is located. Arabic architecture has taught us an invaluable lesson. It favours walking; it is on foot that we can best see the unfolding of architectural arrangements. (…)
In this house there is a veritable promenade architecturale, constantly offering varied, unexpected, sometimes surprising aspects.
It is interesting to achieve such diveristy when one has accepted, from a construction perspective, a completely rigid grid of columns and beams …
The ramp creates totally different sensations than those felt when climbing stairs. A staircase separatse one floor from the other: a ramp links them together”
Le Corbusier Villa Savoye: views of the the spiral staircase
Villa Savoye: views of the the spiral staircase Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Villa Savoye (1929-31), Poissy. View of ramp toward solarium level
Le Corbusier, sketch of the Villa La Roche studio wing with ramp
Le Corbusier, Millowners Building (1954), Ahmedabad, India. Villa Savoye: views of the RAMP
Villa Savoye: view of the RAMP Villa Savoye: views of the RAMP
“The house has no front”
“It is situated at the crest of the hill, it should open to the four horizons”
“It allows distant views of the horizon”
“The main living level, with its suspended garden, is raised on pilotis”
. “The house will sit in the middle of the meadow, It is an object placed on the ground, in the landscape”. Villa Savoye in the landscape
The surrounding landscape is framed by a rectangular opening on the roof terrace
The landscape is shown in segments, framed
Villa Savoye in the landscape
“He wanted to enjoy the view, the breezes and the sun, to experience that hunhurried natural freedom which his work deprived him of ” (Giedion, Space, time and architecture, 1941)
A NEW IDEA OF SPACE “It is a question of achieving dwellings of a sort which, up to the present, have been beyond the reach of conception and execution alike” Le Corbusier
ROOMS are CLOSED and OPEN at the same time
AMBIGUITY of INTERIOR & EXTERIOR
IN and OUT INDUSTRIAL AESTHETICS The ramp is clad in dark grey rubber floring, it has a simple tubular handrail, it slopes gently up to the first floor, its path crossed at several intervals on the left by lateral rays of light that dart through the triangular glazing that overlooks the roof garden Le Corbusier seen by the general press
Though the great expanses of glass that he favors may occasionally turn his rooms into hothouses, his flat roofs may leak and his plans may be wasteful of space, it was Architect Le Corbusier who in 1923 put the entire philosophy of modern architecture into a single sentence: “A house is a machine to live in”.
Review of Le Corbusier’s work appeared in the American magazine,Time, 1935. Re-christened “Les Heures Claires” (“The Light Hours”)
Vila Savoye is built on a site of 7 acres in the open countryside between 1928 and 1931. It is designed as a summer and week-end residence for Mr and Mme Savoye.
Taking advantage of the openess of mind of his clients, that he describes as “completely devoid of preconceived ideas, nor modern, neither ancient”, Le Corbusier develops here his 5 fundamental points of modern architecture.
Constructoin is completed in 1931 but the building is already having technical problems that inaugurate a long period of complaints on the part of the clients. Since the very beginning of the Villa’s history, we assist at the complete split up between the public image of the building and its real life. The client, the architect, and the misfits of Villa Savoye
In June 1930 Mme Savoye, writes to her architect, stating: “it is still raining in our garage” This letter follows another sent in March after discovering leaks in the garage and several bedrooms following a visit during inclement weather.
While sent prior to the building’s completion, she also notes that rainfall on the bathroom skylight “makes a terrible noise […] which prevents us from sleeping in bad weather” Dear Monsieur Le Corbusier The Villa’s discomforts and functional failures
Mme Savoye’s complaints about dampness, humidity, condensation and leaking in her home persisted in subsequent years.
These also extended to discussion of the heating system, which while proving insufficient was also causing flooding
In 1935 Savoye again wrote to Le Corbusier stating:
It is raining in the hall, it’s raining on the ramp and the wall of the garage is absolutely soaked [….] it’s still raining in my bathroom, which floods in bad weather, as the water comes in through the skylight. The gardener’s walls are also wet through. Dear Monsieur Le Corbusier The Villa’s discomforts and functional failures
Savoye’s vexation with waterproofing problems in her home continued to escalate. A letter sent two years later stated
“After innumerable demands you have finally accepted that this house which you built in 1929 is uninhabitable…. Please render it inhabitable immediately. I sincerely hope that I will not have to take recourse to legal action” The afterlife of Villa Savoye 1940-2017
1940_ The villa is inhabited by the Savoye family only until 1940 when Mr Savoye dies and his wife temporarily moves to Biarritz, on the French East coast.
1943-1945_During the war the villa is occupied first by the German army and then by the Allied (American) army.
The villa is now in very poor conditions of conservation.
Mme Savoye, widowed and impoverished, moves to a nearby farm and refuses to sell the house, which she uses as a barn, because she hopes her grandson would one day be able to restore it. Meanwhile the quiet village of Poissy is linked to Paris by a highway and grows into a crowded suburb. The afterlife of Villa Savoye 1940-2017
1951_Le Corbusier proposes to turn the Villa into a Museum of the Congrès d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) held since 1928.
1953_ Le Corbusier, in a letter sent to Giedion, expresses his intention to ask UNESCO to convert the building into a Centre for architectural research.
1957-1964_ A high school is built, subsequently called Lycée Le Corbusier on the site adjoining the villa thus blocking one of the four views on the surrounding countryside. The afterlife of Villa Savoye 1940-2017
1959_André Malraux Minister of Culture announces the building will be saved The villa is finally expropriated by the State.
1965_ Le Corbusier dies at Roquebrune-Cap Martin, on the French Riviera. He is given an elaborate state funeral offiiciated by the French Minister of Culture André Malraux
1966_ The MoMA in New York organizes the exhibition “Villa Savoye. Destruction Through Neglect”. The state of deterioration is shown: rusted window frames, broken or missing glass, peeling stucco and roof structure damaged by heavy snows.
1976_ The Villa is declared Monument Historique Français
2016_ The Villa is included in the UNESCO World Heritage